Nissan ads stray from focus on price

Nissan North America will stray from the discount-deal marketing pitch adopted late last year when a sinking economy kept consumers away from U.S. dealerships. A TV ad campaign that begins on Thursday will tout the loftier messages of safety, quality and performance.

GM begins clearance sale for Hummer

General Motors is shutting down the Hummer brand for good, taking the last of its four discarded U.S. brands off the market. GM had said it would consider offers to buy Hummer after a deal to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to receive Chinese government approval in February.

2013 VW Beetle Convertible arrives

The new 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible has been revealed ahead of a launch at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The new Beetle Convertible is due to bow in at the LA Auto Show in November  but VW obviously decided it was pragmatic to get an early reveal out of the way before the new Bug soft top trickled on to the Interwebs of its own accord. What we get is what we expected (although we did hold out a little hope the new Beetle Cabriolet would look more like the E-Bugster Cabriolet Concept); a convertible version of the 2012 Beetle with a pram style soft top that sits on the boot.